Tips to Stay Fit Through the Holidays

November 3, 2017

Stay fit and motivated this holiday season! Try these easy tips and tricks to keep your fitness and workouts on track all season long.

I can’t believe it’s November. I don’t know how that happened so fast. Admittedly, I love November. It’s my birthday month (which lasts all month thankyouverymuch), my husband’s birthday month (his only lasts for one day — by his choice) and yes — Thanksgiving! Basically, November is one giant party month for us. Wahoo!

Just because November is party month doesn’t mean I slack on the workouts, though. I still run, strength train, and I usually incorporate some yoga as well. If anything, November and December allow me to do new and different workouts since I’m not in heavy marathon training like other months of the year.

I’ve been asked how I stay fit and motivated through the holidays and for me, it’s easy. I don’t give myself a choice. But for others who maybe need a little extra motivation, I can certainly see how holidays could derail any well-planned workout regimen. To help YOU stay fit through the holidays, I’m sharing five tips to keep you motivated and on the right path.

5 Tips to Stay Fit Through the Holidays

1. Don’t use food as a reward or punishment.

It drives me completely batty when folks use food as a reward or punishment. I’ve done it myself and I know how easy it is to fall into this trap. But food is food. It shouldn’t be given a label as either good or bad.

When you begin treating food as a reward or punishment, especially during the holidays, you risk souring the mood. Instead, focus your energy on spending time with friends and family and just enjoy your meal.

2. Keep a workout schedule.

Keeping a workout schedule is a good idea any time of year. In fact, individuals on a schedule or plan have a much better chance at actually sticking to the plan and achieving their goals.

If you know life is going to get hectic around holiday time, write down your workout plans so you know what to expect for each day. If you write it down and plan ahead, you’re less likely to be derailed and more likely to stay fit.

3. Keep workouts simple.

A potentially stressful time of year is not the time to try new, complicated workouts. Stick to the ones that are tried-and-true so you can stay focused, get your sweat on, and get on with your day. New workouts can be intimidating or confusing, so keeping things as simple as possible is ideal.

4. Go for a run.

Running is by far one of the easiest and most effective ways to get your heart rate up, increase your mood, and encourage brain function — all vital components to a happy and healthy holiday season! If you’re not already a runner, something as simple as run/walk intervals for 20-30 minutes each day can work wonders. If you are a runner, choose a distance that’s challenging yet manageable in your allotted timeframe. For me, I would choose a 4-5 mile run to get my blood pumping and be a functioning, happy human.

5. Make fitness a family affair!

This is a big one and applies to those of you traveling for the holidays or hosting house guests. In both of these situations, it’s entirely too easy to get completely derailed from any sort of fitness regimen at all. If your sister-in-law never works out but you’re very close with her, encourage her to try out a simple bodyweight workout with you. You can easily find a bodyweight HIIT workout to do together. Likewise, if your dad runs one mile every morning, perhaps encourage him to run two miles with you instead of just one. Even kids can join in — have them do high knees, butt kickers, or burpees! By making fitness a family affair, you’ll stay fit and you’ll encourage others to lead a fit and healthy lifestyle, too. It’s a win-win!

Staying fit through the holidays doesn’t have to be a major undertaking. By keeping track of workouts, encouraging others to join you, and not using food as a reward/punishment system, you’ll be in a great position to stay fit all season long.

xo

Let’s talk!

What’s one tip or trick you use to stay motivated during the holidays?

For me fitness is non negotiable, but the food . . . let’s just say I definitely suffer with some SADD around this time of year. And unfortunately my parents can barely walk. 🙁 Which is why I like to squeeze in a turkey trot even though I host Thanksgiving.

Like you said, keeping fitness already in your routine is crucial. Myself and a local friend (and the hubby as well) have organized a small turkey trot in our town. This is the 6th year…we don’t charge a registration, but encourage food (or monetary) donations for our local food bank. We have it on Thanksgiving morning (when most people have already “put the bird in the oven” anyways. We’ve had great attendance (especially on the years when the weather’s been nice). I typically do the Runner’s World Holiday Streak as well…running just an easy mile every day. I keep my regular 3-4 running days/week routine, but add this easy mile run on the “non-running” days. I am not an advocate for streaking, but for a short 5-6 weeks, I compromise my principals LOL

Great tips! I definitely agree with keeping things simple, especially because the holidays almost always involve travel for me. And Thanksgiving is a perfect time to make it a family affair with all the turkey trots out there. I’ve convinced my dad and Mike to do a Turkey Trot with me, now I just have to work on my brother 🙂

yes yes yes to the food reward thing! I try not to do that myself, but i can fall in easy!
I try to take extra walks during the day too. It is so easy to pop just a few small treats in my mouth and here and there, but it adds up

It’s tricky this year since my 10k is in the middle of November. I like to take a break after a race, but I won’t take a month-long one like I did this summer. Holidays can be stressful, and I like to sweat out the stress.

Oddly enough, I’m usually in my best shape over the holidays. It helps a bunch that I don’t particularly like sweets, so it’s easy to bypass them all. My hope is to get more running in over the fall and winter. Happy birthday month!

I try to continue my workout routine come the holiday season and continue with my runs but I hate running in the cold so I resort to treadmill runs and they are just not the same. I find myself cutting them short or doing more of a run/walk instead.

Great tips. I usually try to workout through the holidays on normal schedule if possible, but of course tempting food is all around us during these times… so it’s actually imperative to make sure that we do our workouts, so we don’t feel guilty when we indulge a little 🙂

Number 5 is my favorite. Your family is your built-in buddy system. We go on lots of walks & even bike rides. I don’t mind the cold and the colors in the fall are so beautiful. It is actually a tradition to go on a long walk after Thanksgiving dinner.

Normally my workouts lower my stress level and make me feel empowered to take on the day, so I just continue to follow my normal routine throughout the holidays. Luckily, my holiday schedule doesn’t include crazy traveling or anything like that, so there aren’t really any extra challenges to get around on that front. Being a teacher, we have off the week between Christmas and New Years so once the craziness leading up to Christmas is over, I have that week to sleep in and workout whenever I feel like it, which I am very thankful for! It’s a nice recharge for January and those dark, dismal winter months…. Can you tell I hate January??? lol.

Good tips. I think for me, I just keep on my regular early-morning workout schedule and therefore the holidays don’t really affect me much except if I’m traveling. The main thing I have to watch is not to eat too many cookies!! 😀

Keeping fitness as a part of the schedule is key, in my opinion. If you don’t pencil it into your busy calendar, it likely won’t happen. It needs to be made a priority, along with all of the fun things going on during the busy holiday months.

These are great! I’m pretty good at staying with my fitness plans during the holidays. Probably because I have a lot of big races around this time, so the only person I’m hurting by slacking is myself.

All great tips! I think it’s especially important to avoid using food as a reward or punishment. Keeping exercise in the mix helps me maintain a healthy mindset about food because I’m thinking more about replenishing what my body needs, but also enjoying my favorite treats!

Your post just made me realize that the holiday season is so near and that I need to prepare mentally for it. Anyway, your tips are so useful and practical and just in time, Rachel! Going for a run is the best tips ever and especially when surrounded by many temptation and comfort foods! 😉